The Critter Cam was setup by a group of middle-school age students during a Swamp Exploration-Wild About Wildlife program. The trail camera was positioned over the remains of a recently harvested and butchered white-tailed deer to catch the mix of scavengers that might take advantage of an easy winter treat and forest feast.

Within the first few days and nights the camera captured coyote, fox, red tail hawk, vulture, crow, red bellied woodpecker, blue jay and deer.

Using a Learning Resources Zoomy Handheld Digital Microscope Camera my students and I have been capturing microscopic photographs of things found in nature for scientific investigations. We started by looking at butterfly wings and found the intricate patterns of scales to resemble shingles on a roof.

Monarch Butterfly Wing

Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly Wing

Painted Lady Butterfly Wing

The Zoomy lends itself well to investigations and inquiry and operates with ease-even for a young child. The students next thought to look at a piece of snake skin we had on a touch table and compared its resemblance to packaging bubbles and plastic wrap. We continued to find other things to examine including a monarch egg, caterpillar and 17 year cicada wing.

Zoomy Discovery Station with Laminated Biofacts

cicada wing – zoomy

Snake Skin – zoomy

Monarch Butterfly Caterpillar – zoomy

Monarch Butterfly Egg, Zoomy Camera – zoomy

Prolegs of Monarch Butterfly Caterpillar – zoomy

I look forward to continued use of the zoomy and want to see what other images the students can capture using the technology on their own.